The Nation Newspaper

Tag: World

  • Durotoye eyes ‘reading’ world records

    FOREMOST motivational speaker, Fela Durotoye, is set to create three world records with the reading of his book, ‘17 Secrets of High Flying Students’ to a global audience.

    The project, Gemstone Global Reading festival, is scheduled to hold simultaneously by 12 noon on Saturday, November 24 in 17 countries and 17 cities across Nigeria.

    The reading will also be streamed live on the internet.

    A statement by the project manager, Rotimi Eyitayo, said: “while the reading takes place in Nigeria by 12 noon, other locations like Ghana would be 11am, South Africa at 1pm, Malaysia at 7pm, and Maryland (USA) at 7am and so on.”

    Gemstone Group, promoters of the reading festival, hopes to register over 50, 000 secondary school students.

    Some of the records the event will attempt to break are the most number of children being read to by an adult currently at 4, 222; the largest book reading event by an author, which stands at 5, 406 and the largest global reading lesson in different countries simultaneously (new category).

    Other Nigerian cities involved in the project are: Abeokuta, Calabar, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Ife, Abuja, Benin, Jos, Ado-Ekiti, Uyo, Enugu, Kaduna, Minna, Owerri, and Asaba.

    The event will also hold in Malaysia, Ghana, South Africa, United States of America, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Indonesia, and Singapore.

    Other countries are China, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Seychelles, Dubai, Australia, India, and Canada.

     

  • ‘World needs 600m jobs’

    ‘World needs 600m jobs’

    Hundreds of millions of new jobs will be needed to keep up with world population growth by 2020, the World Bank said in a report that highlights the importance of jobs to development.

    As populations surge in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of positions will need to increase by 600 million over 2005 levels, the report said.

    The global economic crisis poses a challenge to that goal as some 200 million people remain unemployed, including 75 million under the age of 25.

    The World Bank said the most influential development gains can come from jobs that not only provide a source of income to workers, but also make cities function better, connect with global markets, protect the environment, foster civic engagement and reduce poverty.

    “A good job can change a person’s life, and the right jobs can transform entire societies. Governments need to move jobs to centre stage to promote prosperity and fight poverty,’’ the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, said.